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But first, one I meant to get on the blog last week, before I got too dad-blamed busy ...

SEAN COSTELLO
“Sean’s Blues: A Memorial Retrospective”
(Landslide)

Sean Costello died in April 2008, one day before his 29th birthday. “Sean’s Blues” is not a complete retrospective — it ranges from 1996 to 2002 — but its mix of album selections and unreleased tracks, including some live cuts, does offer a broad sampling of Costello’s exceptional talents as a guitarist, singer, writer, and interpreter.

Costello could dig deep into the blues, but he also had a jazzman’s nimble touch with jump-blues and swing. Even when he reached back for old material, he always brought a fresh touch to it, and for all his six- string prowess, the onetime blues-rock prodigy and Susan Tedeschi sideman was less interested in flashy soloing than in crafting a taut, dynamic ensemble sound. As he matured and his voice took on a rougher edge, he also at times recalled the great Southern-soul singer and guitarist Eddie Hinton. What a loss.

— Nick Cristiano, The Philadelphia Inquirer
MELANIE FIONA
"The Bridge"
(Universal Motown)

Melanie Fiona may be eccentric. Or maybe she’s just madly in love. Either way, her debut CD is an impressive mix of tracks that presents the many sides of the woman.

"The Bridge" finds the 26-year-old newcomer begging her man to stay put on the uptempo "Please Don’t Go (Cry Baby)," leaving her lover behind on the impeccable "Monday Morning," and demanding her partner treat her the right way between the sheets on the groovy first single, "Give It to Me Right."

Though eight of the 12 tracks use samples — Fiona borrows from The Zombies, Martha & the Vandellas, the Rhine Oaks, Johnnie Taylor, Janet Kay and the Softones — she proves she can hold her own on the songs that don’t use interpolations.

"Bang, Bang" is an exceptional jam, as is "Johnny," a danceable, old school-sounding love song that finds Fiona kicked to the curb, senselessly walking around singing: "Johnny, the least you could have done was drive me home."

Fiona, like newcomer Anjulie, has provided one of the best debut albums this year. The two are also Canadian-raised, Guyanese-bred singers. Must be something in the water.

— Mesfin Fekadu, Associated Press

RANDY BRECKER
"The Music of Wlodek Pawlik: Nostalgic Journey: Tykocin Jazz Suite"
(Summit Records)

In 2005, tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker needed a bone marrow transplant from a close genetic match to forestall the leukemia that would eventually kill him. His brother, trumpeter Randy Brecker, turned to Polish composer and jazz pianist Wlodek Pawlik, who helped the Breckers trace their family to a village in eastern Poland called Tykocin. (The rabbi there was named Tecosky, the same as their mother’s maiden name, the liner notes say.)

Michael Brecker died without a match in early 2007. Pawlik went on to write this jazz suite and other tunes to honor Randy Brecker’s Tykocin "homecoming."

Fashioned from Brecker’s trumpet, Pawlik’s trio, and a symphony orchestra from nearby Bialystok, the CD is one strong and emotional recording, both beautiful and haunting. The nine pieces cover a wide stylistic range, from crystalline piano and orchestral passages to some kicking jazz solos.

The three-part suite is especially tragic with the end punctuated by bells.

The subsequent compositions broaden that tone but do not completely leave it. Randy Brecker brought his A-game to this one, creating taut solos and adding to the sophisticated proceedings. Pawlik, who has been playing jazz for 30 years, is a well-schooled cat with some things to say, and he lays them out here.

— Karl Stark, The Philadelphia Inquirer

MIKE STERN
"Big Neighborhood"
(Heads Up)

Guitarist Mike Stern doesn’t meet a style he doesn’t like in his mythic "Big Neighborhood." The Blood Sweat and Tears veteran, who parlayed that into jazz-fusion success with drummer Billy Cobham and two stints with trumpeter Miles Davis back in the 1980s, turns to industrial-strength jazz fusion here on the title track.

This polyglot recording celebrates an African vibe on "Reach" via the wordless singing of Cameroon-born bassist Richard Bona. "Coupe de Ville" is shockingly straight ahead, while "Moroccan Roll" shows a wacked Middle Eastern feel that would fit nicely amid the haze of a hookah bar.

The set is OK as far as it goes. But nothing lasts for long, even many of the guests. Stern shows a yen for bassist Esperanza Spalding’s airy singing on two cuts with drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. "Bird Blue" at least is cool. Another two tunes with groovemeisters Medeski, Martin & Wood are more successful, while trumpeter Randy Brecker appears with Monkish panache on "Hope You Don’t Mind."

— K.S.

EL PERRO DEL MAR
"Love Is Not Pop"
(The Control Group)

The plethora of internationally successful Swedish pop music acts over the years may tempt one to perceive a signature sound, a discernible influence — a result of mood, place, etc. But c’mon: Can anyone really spot the ABBA influence on Led Zeppelin’s "In Through the Out Door," their 1979 swan song LP recorded at the Swedish hitmakers’ Polar Studios in Stockholm?

For many, Stockholm’s now (indie) pop sound is Peter Bjorn and John — more rock than their 2007 breakthrough hit "Young Folks" might imply. And then there is PB&J’s current tourmate, Sarah Assbring, aka El Perro Del Mar (her moniker inspired by a Spanish beach canine encounter). You might think she’s a "Gothenburg Calling" alternative, hailing from Sweden’s second city, a big college town and music hotbed. But her beautifully brooding, deceptively lively indie pop is gorgeously borderless.

Her third album is a slight departure, more beat-pushed (even including clubby remixes), developed with studio whiz Rasmus Hagg. It’s also darker, if sparkling in its meditations on lost love, with EPDM’s measured, ethereal and unmistakable voice conveying the sadness of a "Change of Heart" or moving on to "A Better Love." And her sublime take on "Heavenly Arms" must be the Lou Reed cover of the year, a track off his own pivotal album, 1982’s "The Blue Mask."

— David R. Stampone, The Philadelphia Inquirer

JAMES MADDOCK
"Sunrise on Avenue C"
(Ascend Records)

It’s been almost a decade since James Maddock’s band Wood put out "Songs From Stamford Hill" and appeared headed for stardom. Now the New York-based British singer and songwriter is finally back. And while he may have endured a rough personal and professional stretch to get here, the music proves to be, as the cliche goes, worth the wait.

"Sunrise on Avenue C’s" impeccably crafted pop — down-to-earth yet elegant with its occasional use of strings — is full of strong melodies and subtle dynamics; the title track, for one, a vividly sketched slice of urban romanticism, comes with a trombone solo in the coda that reinforces the sense of aching longing. That’s the way it goes throughout, with the music as emotionally resonant as Maddock’s songs, from the quiet intimacy of "Stars Align" to the rock-edged urgency of "Hollow Love."

This is adult music with nothing "Dumbed Down" — to borrow the title of Maddock’s humorous poke at TV (and himself) — but my 14-year-old daughter also likes it. That’s a neat trick.

— N.C.

JAMES HAND
"Shadow on the Ground"
(Rounder)

Yes, there’s a new Tim McGraw album out there. But, you know, life’s too short, and besides, the label above does say "country." So we’ll stick with the real thing, and James Hand is certainly that.

"Shadow on the Ground" is only the second studio album for the 57-year-old Texan. As with 2006’s "The Truth Will Set You Free," also produced by Ray Benson and Lloyd Maines, Hand pours a lifetime of experience into its grooves, creating a perfectly realized honky-tonk world, whiskey-stained and neon-lit.

With the quaver in his voice, his sometimes haunted air, and the twang-fueled music, Hand bears a strong resemblance to Hank Williams Sr. But from gut-punches like "The Pain of Loving You" and "Don’t Depend on Me" to the defiant "Ain’t a Goin’ " and the gospel-flavored "Men Like Me Can Fly," Hand is clearly creating his own memorable musical legacy. As he puts it on "Ain’t a Goin’": "When you sing from the heart you know every part. ... And when I’m gone I want it wrote on the stone, ‘When he sang he sang it all the way.’ "

— N.C.